Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Thirty-Four
6th August 1973
Belozersky Bypass Canal, Near Lake Beloye, Vologda Oblast, Russia
It was not the fastest way to travel and most of the time that was a positive thing because it was a means to slow things down so that events could be digested. This time was different though. Kiki had grown restless watching the countryside roll past and wished that they were at their destination after they had been notified by radio that Gia was already back in her apartment in Moscow having flown back a full day after the Epione had departed from the city on the Gulf of Finland.
It was nearly six days from Saint Petersburg to Moscow and she was almost hoping that some medical emergency would present itself in the region. And if she were being truly honest, it would be a chance to showcase the Epione, her own skills and generate some good will among the Russian people. It was also a terrible thought because someone would have to have been injured or suffering some sort of health crisis for that to happen.
As it was, there were a few people on the banks of the canal every time they passed a village to watch the barge flying the Red, White, and Black of German Imperial Flag and the Blue and White Flag of the Medical Service pass as well as a glimpse of Kiki herself. It was mostly out of curiosity. However, there were a pair of Riverine Gunboats from the Russian Navy that were a few hundred meters ahead and trailing the Epione and that cast a bit of a pall on things. Kiki had discovered that distrust of the Military and the State remained strong in the Russian countryside. She understood the need for security but had not anticipated the reaction of these people towards it.
Mostly from a need for something to do and to practice using the equipment aboard the Epione, Kiki was using Markus as a guinea pig of sorts. She felt that she had gotten off on the wrong foot with the boy and was hoping that some time spent explaining the mission they were on with some practical demonstrations. Kiki had been showing him the process of performing a blood count, how the process was automated, reading the results, and what she would be looking for. That led to them looking through a microscope at small smear from the blood sample that she had taken from him while they waited for the machine to spit out the results.
“All of this had to be counted manually?” Markus asked.
“Yes” Kiki replied, “And they had me do it in Medical School so that I would understand the basics, or in the event that I didn’t have a machine available to do it for me.”
“But would you still have a microscope?”
“You would be amazed what I could do with a cheap microscope that you would give a child to encourage them to get into the sciences” Kiki said, “Give me a few other things from around the department store and I can work miracles.”
That was when the printer started running, Kiki tore off the page when it finished and started reading it. Markus looked at the sheet of paper, but the abbreviated words and numbers meant little to him.
“This is showing all your levels within normal parameters” Kiki said, “You don’t seem to have any infections or abnormalities. Typical of a healthy young Homosapien male.”
“That’s all?” Markus asked.
“More or less” Kiki replied, “When I was your age, I would occasionally get anemic, but that had to do with being a young woman, menstrual bleeding. This is the test that detected it and my mentor, Doctor Berg insisted that I increase my intake of certain vegetables as a result.”
“That’s all” Markus said.
“Hardly” Kiki said, “If we detected elevated white blood cells, we would then need to find the source of the infection which would mean running more tests. Considering your age and professional aspirations, we would probably need to start with a test for Venereal diseases. Of course, you came from the Luftwaffe Academy, close quarters, and poor ventilation in the dormitories is expected, particularly in the wintertime. So respiratory infections would likely be near the top of the list…”
Kiki noticed that Markus had looked away and he was a bit embarrassed. This tended to happen when she broached certain topics.
“You would really run a test for Venereal diseases?” Markus asked.
“That is routine Markus” Kiki said, “And in this context as your Doctor it would remain between us.”
That was mostly true. Kiki would be required to report the diagnosis as she would with any other infectious disease as per protocol. However, there were safeguards to keep names from getting spread around.
“No” Markus said, “You would do that even after what your friend said about me?”
“What exactly are you referring to?” Kiki asked and Markus looked embarrassed again. “This is in strictest confidence, no secrets.”
“No secrets?” Markus repeated, “I have sort of seen nearly every bit of you.”
“That was inadvertent” Kiki said with a shrug, “And I know that Zella can be a bit much at times. We had been talking about how obvious it is that you haven’t been around women very much.”
“I thought that she was talking about how I have never… Er, well… uhm, you know” Markus said, his face turning beet red.
“I see” Kiki said. Suddenly aware of just how much Zella’s careless words had been hurtful to him with how he had interpreted them. “That is not something you need to be ashamed or embarrassed about.”
Markus looked at Kiki in surprise. That was clearly not what he had expected to hear.
